PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *cosmological, sociological*
Despite sporting a name that sounds similar to a DC Comics heroine, the name "Canary Black" refers to a computer file, and the heroine seeking to obtain said file is kickass intelligence agent Avery Graves (Kate Beckinsale).
This is a fast-paced thrill-ride of the movie with some slight sociological myth-content. Immediately after completing an assignment for her agency, one that proves how kickass she is, Avery's husband David is kidnapped by schemers unknown. To recover his living body, she must betray her agency and hand over the file to the blackmailers,
Up to the 60-minute mark, CANARY seems like any decent action-espionage flick, not unlike a lot of the 1990s output from NuImage. However, the script takes a turn into science-fiction with the revelation that the file is actually a viral bomb, capable of shutting down the Internet in any designated country. The villain (Goran Kostic) has a speech in which he derides the U.S. for having invented the virus as a weapon against computer hacking, but by any other name, he's still a black-hearted evildoer. Indeed, once he's got the virus, he beams a blackmail message to the UN while he wears a concealing black helmet. So we're not that far from the world of superheroes, after all.
Beckinsale's character is simple but evocative, and both production values and fight-choreography prove strong. So this CANARY sings its one song pretty well.
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